Of the two dozen or so politicos floated as serious presidential contenders, an uncanny number have a legitimate Texas connection. Here's a look at their ties to Texas — from birth to work to the hug seen 'round the world.

Boiling down Gov. Rick Perry’s legacy into a few bullet points isn’t easy. But reporters Reeve Hamilton and Jay Root look at some things people will surely remember years after Perry has left office. Their feature kicks off our 10-part series, The Perry Legacy.

Even before his recent legal troubles, Gov. Rick Perry was operating in U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s shadow, in the eyes of many conservatives, as the two Texans explored bids for the White House. That was apparent in their receptions at a recent conservative conference in Fort Worth.

Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, two potential 2016 presidential candidates, are among the Texas Republicans scheduled to speak at RedState's national conference in Fort Worth Friday and Saturday.

As he ponders whether to run for president again, Gov. Rick Perry has renewed his faith by getting baptized in the spring waters once used to wash the sins off Sam Houston, the first president of the Republic of Texas and one of the most colorful political figures in American history.

Gov. Rick Perry's failed 2012 presidential campaign is chronicled in detail in Double Down: Game Change 2012, a new book about the last presidential race. And if there was any doubt that there's no love lost between Perry and former President George W. Bush, the authors remove it.

At last Saturday's quarterly meeting of the Texas Lyceum, I interviewed political-strategists-turned-pundits Matthew Dowd and Mark McKinnon about the media's coverage of the 2012 elections and how reporting on politics will be different going forward.

Chuck Norris, Donald Trump, Mickey Mouse and Willie Nelson may not have been declared candidates for the 2012 presidential election, but they got write-in votes in Texas. That support didn't get them any closer to the White House, as counties don't officially count write-in votes for uncertified candidates.

The election last week showed many in the GOP that it may need to fine tune its message on immigration. The tight race between President Obama and former Gov. Mitt Romney motivated Latino voters — largely for Obama — and caused someimmigrants to fear what a Romney administration could mean for their future.

Following a Veteran's Day celebration at an elementary school in East Austin on Friday, Sen. John Cornyn reflected on Tuesday's election, saying Republicans could have run stronger candidates in some U.S. Senate races. But the National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman gave President Obama credit for running a strong campaign that got his party's supporters to the polls.

Cornyn, the soon-to-be senior senator from Texas — Ted Cruz is replacing retiring U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison — spoke about what lies ahead for him if he becomes Minority Whip, and the potential gridlock in Obama's second term. He also gave his thoughts on Cruz's Tuesday night victory, and whether Congress will be able to avoid the "fiscal cliff."

The line “wait until we see who wins the election" no longer holds water. What does four more years of an Obama White House mean for the policy hurdles facing the overwhelmingly conservative Texas Legislature — and the interest groups and constituents who guide the political process?

It's been an unconventional election cycle in Texas. Court challenges to redistricting led to an ever-changing primary date and created a packed schedule between the runoff and state and national conventions. The campaigns awake today knowing — win or lose — it all comes to end.

Throughout the election year, we've tracked the progress of the candidates with our basketball tournament-inspired brackets. Now it's time for the final round. Once the elections end, the brackets will be full, with results from each round. And they will continue to include links to districts and candidate information.

It’s not the most exciting election season Texas has ever seen. Most legislative races are over after the primaries and what’s left, with an exception in the Texas Senate, don’t appear to involve the balance of power in the House.

There probably won't be any surprises when it comes to the presidential race in Texas. But there are still some questions that Texas political observers are eager to see answered on Election Day. Here are four things to watch for as the election returns come in Tuesday night.

The Texas Democratic Party in Lubbock County has released a video showing several young men in an altercation with one of its volunteers and yelling racially derogatory remarks at the volunteer, who was looking out for vandals targeting signs for President Obama.

With a tight presidential race going down to the wire, Gov. Rick Perry will hit the road this weekend to campaign for his formal rival in the battleground states of Colorado and Nevada, where he’ll appear at a series of rallies designed to pump up the vote for GOP nominee Mitt Romney.

For this week's nonscientific survey of politics and government insiders, we asked about the debates for president and the U.S. Senate, and about how the presidential election might affect Texas contests now an in the near future.

In Gov. Rick Perry's statewide campaigns in Texas, his wife, Anita, offered traditional spousal support. But during the 2012 presidential race, she was all in. Her central role, and the resistance it provoked from longtime staffers, is detailed in the latest excerpt from Oops! A Diary from the 2012 Campaign Trail.